March 4 - Day 19

Amazingly we were up at 7:00 a.m., showered, breakfasted , and then Patti, Luana, Nae, and I went to the "Market". It was located near the downtown area by the harbor and stretched along about 3 blocks of one of the main streets which is closed for this Sunday market. There was much to choose from and we used this opportunity to purchase mare jewelery, souvenirs, picture cards, and food. After dropping Nae off at her place, we returned home and changed into our "church" clothes and headed off to the church which the Amoedos attended. Along the way we picked up Natasha, another of Luana's many friends. It was a very spiritual church led by a priest who had a very warm and loving manner and it was obvious that his congregation really liked him and participated in the service with much zeal and spirituality. For the big Sunday lunch, we had some wonderful fish which we had previously bought at the fish market and which was once again prepared in such an amazingly succulent way by Johana. We met Luana's grandmother and aunty from Salete's side of the family. At 3:00 we finally and literally took off for the falls which Luana and her friends were so anxious to show us. This was Iracema Falls close to Presidente Fiqueiredo City in Amazonas. The road was new and straight right through the heart of the rain forest and would have landed us in Colombia if we had continued on. Nae averaged about a 140 kph from Manaus to Presidente Fiqueiredo City , which meant at times we were going about a 160 kph. Patti, Ana Luisa, and I simply hung on for dear life in the back seat. I must admit though that to travel at this speed on such a good highway is exhilarating. Because it gets dark around 7:00 this close to the equator, Nae and Luana were anxious for us to get there so we could see the falls. Unfortunately when we got there the park gates to the Falls were already closed. Quickly Luana and Nae and Ana Luisa went to plan B. There was another set of falls that were slightly smaller but located in a private campground. We paid our admission and drove a few miles down a very rudimentary road that had jungle growth closing in on both sides. We ended up at a secluded spot and the five of us enjoyed a very refreshing swim in a fast moving black water river just below a set of beautiful falls. As it got dark, we made our way back to the small parking lot where our car was parked. There was one other car there with 2 young couples and they were in trouble. They had inadvertently locked their keys in the car. The windows withstood their attempts to break them. Finally Nae retrieved a jack handle from our trunk and the young man whose car it was, used it to break in a small back window. If they hadn't been able to get into their car they were facing a long lonely night in the heart of a rain forest or a long trek back through the dark across a rutted road to the gate where there was someone with a car. Phone reception in this area was very sketchy. On the way back we drove at a sedate 80 kph as creatures were now coming out of the forest and too drive too quickly would have been extremely dangerous. The moon hung in the sky over us but with its crescent reversed from what we are used to seeing in Canada. As well fog hung heavily over the jungle and on the road in a few places. About 25 km from Manaus we came upon a line up of cars. There was a dead horse in the middle of the land we were traveling in. It had been struck by a large tow truck. Apparently this was not an unusual event as often domestic animals got out of poorly fenced areas and onto the highway. When we got home we had Brazilian pizza for supper. It is so unlike our Canadian pizza but I really liked it once I got past the different kinds of topping pairs. Nae and some of Luana's other friends came by. Gabriela, whom I worked with at Murdoch MacKay came over also as did Tomas, one of my very first students at KEC. Gabby is still very sweet and Tomas, well, Tomas is still Tomas. Bed at midnight. These are long days for an "elderly" type like me.